CHAP. XLII. ROSA^CEM. CRAT^GUS. 815 



a genus that would afford him so many resources as that of Crataegus ? The 

 most complete collection of thorns in England is that in the arboretum of 

 Messrs. Loddiges, where we examined, on June 18th, 1836, plants of nearly 

 80 sorts, all of which appeared to us to be distinct. There are only 

 two or three kinds, that we know of, in England, not included in this col- 

 lection, viz. C. orientalis var. Leedna, some varieties of C. Oxyacantha, 

 and, perhaps, a few Nepal seedlings in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 

 which may, probably, prove to belong to this genus. We shall give Messrs. 

 Loddiges's list, together with our synonymes, in an Appendix, for the use 

 of intended collectors or purchasers. There is a collection at Somer- 

 ford Hall, in Staffordshire, nearly as complete as that of Messrs. Loddiges, 

 which was made by General Monckton, who, like ourselves, is an enthusiastic 

 admirer of this genus. The best collections in Scotland are in the Edinburgh 

 Botanic Garden, and in Lawson's Nursery. At Terenure, near Dublin, the 

 seat of Frederick Bourne, Esq., also an enthusiastic admirer of the genus, 

 there is a collection almost as numerous as that of Messrs. Loddiges, selected 

 by Mr. Bourne, personally, from almost all the principal nurseries in Europe. 

 The best collection of full-grown trees of this genus, in England, is at White 

 Knights ; and of full-grown trees, in France, at Courset. The greatest 

 number of species in one garden, in France, is, or was in 1828, in the 

 Pepiniere de Luxembourg. There are, also, good collections in the nur- 

 series of MM. Audibert, at Tarascon ; and of MM. Baumann, at Bollwyller. 

 The best collection in Belgium is at Humbeque, near Brussels ; and the best 

 in Germany are those in the Floetbeck Nurseries at Hamburgh, and in the 

 Gottingen Botanic Garden. In Poland there was formerly a tolerably good 

 collection in the Botanic Garden at Warsaw ; and there is still a considerable 

 number of species in the arboretum of Count Wodzicki, at Niezdsvicdz, in 

 the neighbourhood of Cracow, of which some account will be found in the 

 supplement to the present volume. In Russia, in the Government Garden of 

 Odessa, now under the care of M. le Chevalier Descemet, conseiller de cour, 

 who was formerly a nurseryman at St. Denis, near Paris, there is a collection 

 of 45 sorts, chiefly planted since 1820. In America, judging from the nur- 

 serymen's catalogues, the greatest number of sorts appears to be in Prince's 

 Nursery, near New York ; but the finest specimens are in Bartram's Bo- 

 tanic Garden, and at the Woodlands, and other places in the neighbourhood 

 of Philadelphia. 



The genus Crataegus did not excite much attention till the commence- 

 ment of the present century; since which period the number of sorts has 

 been more than doubled, chiefly through the exertions of Messrs. Loddiges. 

 From the excellent collection in the arboretum at Hackney, and from the 

 duplicates of it in the Horticultural Society's Garden, almost all the species 

 having fruited, we have been enabled to study the different sorts of this genus 

 much more satisfactorily than those of most of the other genera we have 

 treated on in this work ; and we give the following enumeration, perfectly 

 satisfied that the different kinds we have named are distinct ; though we are 

 by no means certain of what are entitled to be considered species, and of 

 what are only varieties. Neither have we pretended to give strict definitions 

 of either species or varieties ; deeming such definitions, even when more cor- 

 rect than we could make them, of comparatively little use in practice. If 

 definitions fully answered the end intended by them, there would not have 

 been the confusion of names which now exists in every genus, except in 

 those, all the species of which have been seen in a living state together, by 

 one or by several botanists. 



In classing the species of this genus, as in the case of most others, there 

 are two modes which may be adopted. By one, the different sorts may be 

 arranged in sections, according to some technical distinction, such as the size 

 of the fruit, or that of the leaves ; the entireness, or degree of incision, of the 

 latter, &c. ; and by the other mode the kinds may be thrown into natural 

 groups, according to the majority of their points of resemblance. We have 



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